


the day that we watched the death of the sun

by sunkyushine (nekomimichan)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mentioned Cannibalism, MerMay, Mild Gore, Reminiscing, Singing, Song: Wasteland Baby! (Hozier), Sunsets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekomimichan/pseuds/sunkyushine
Summary: the world above has found its doom, but Junmyeon has one last song to sing to bid farewell to a very special somebody.
Relationships: Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Wu Yi Fan | Kris
Comments: 14
Kudos: 16





	the day that we watched the death of the sun

**Author's Note:**

> this is inspired/prompted by a youtube comment on [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4rKN_qW5DU) video of hozier's wasteland baby. [here](https://open.spotify.com/track/1HYnjKqSSHh1tdl2Hi57zH) is the spotify link to the song, hope you'll enjoy reading^^

Sunsets have always been astonishing for Junmyeon. Something about the colour of the endless blue skies gradually changing towards shades of orange and red, as though poisonous anemones blooming, gorgeous to look at, tempting, exquisite. He hasn’t seen much of them throughout his long, prosperous lifetime, can count the occasions with his fingers – webs not included. They’ve always been pleasant coincidences, because deep, deep down the ocean floor he can never tell how it’s like up there, in the outer world where they have skies and clouds, and sunsets. So far away. 

He wouldn’t swim towards the surface often. It’s a long trip, exhausting to go and exhausting to return, takes days, weeks. Sometimes the skies were generous enough to greet him with the mesmerizing collusions of the blues and the oranges, the reds and yellows. 

Blue is a familiar colour; the colour of life, of home, of family and friends, of safety, of love. Junmyeon loves it even more when it’s painted all over the sky, a thrilling fusion of the accustomed and the brand new. 

And the warm colours, of red, yellow and orange; they’re _different_. Junmyeon knows them from shallower depths; of clownfish and anemones, jellyfish, sea dragons and sea angels, the orange roughies he kept as pets growing up, corals and octopi and squids and shrimps. Red and yellow and orange. Warmth. 

Junmyeon remembers his very first experience with it, with _warmth_. When he had successfully swam towards the surface of the ocean for the first time after trying and failing countless times before. It was night time, the first time he had seen the full moon and all the stars spread across the dark, navy, familiar-coloured sky, shining like pearls, like planktons. He had stayed up all night, until the sunrise, until the very first shades of orange, red and yellow as the sun slowly peaked its head from the horizon. 

_Warmth_. He still remembers how it burned his scaly skin in such a sweet, sweet way. So beautiful it was to watch, to have the privilege to experience although it burned and burned his sensitive, glassy fish eyes. He didn’t care one bit. He had spent his entire day there, experienced his first ever sunset. Got drunk in it, in the colours, the way the warmth disappeared as quickly as it came. 

It was his very first time meeting the sun, he had heard about it, learned about it. Not many of his kind dare to go up and above the surface, though Junmyeon was raised on tales of adventurers, swimming towards what they call the ‘land’, the places far, far away from the ocean where the waters are so shallow no fish can live, where wet, moist water meets dry soil. Where folks would walk on their two bare feet, like the pictures his people have acquired from shipwrecks, the journals and machinery, human life style. Warm, new, thrilling. 

Things have changed since then. The world has changed, and so did the oceans. They got shallower day by day, marine life disappeared one by one, the water got more and more contaminated, _fresh poison each week_. Whatever the humans were doing up there in their part of the planet, on the cracked earth with their two feet, slowly but perpetually lead the planet towards its doom. 

Junmyeon remembers how things were before, his memories are vivid, as clear as crystals. His kind, along with many other species, couldn’t adapt to these new circumstances very well. Not many survived the changes, Junmyeon remembers each funeral, each friend or family he had to say goodbye to, each song he sung with a heavy heart. He remembers everything, and everyone the humans above have taken from him. But nothing matters anymore, because now, the end is closer than it feels. 

It’s been a while since he migrated towards different waters, been a while since he had nothing and no one left to leave behind. Time passes quicker, before he knows he’s all alone, and his scales are changing, adapting. Natural selection, the humans call it. Survival of the fittest, when everyone and everything he’s ever known is long gone and he’s forced to stay alive. All on his own, no one left to sing him to rest if his day ever comes. 

In a bog he found himself after a particularly severe flood. It doesn’t rain as sweetly anymore, the raindrops on his skin leave burning red marks, not like the rains from his happier years, when it was like tickles, like mother’s kisses. The radiation and the pollution have altered the natural life drastically, abominations and freaks of nature mindlessly patrolling through the swamps and bogs, waiting for the sweet release of death, not entirely alive but not entirely dead. What once used to be foxes, wolves, frogs, flies; they’re all going through severe identity crisis. Most of them aren’t sane, Junmyeon can see, and to be fair, so isn’t he. 

That’s where he meets a very special somebody. At the end of the world, on the thin line between insanity and death, breathing in the smoke, wetting his scales in radioactive pools of acid and poison, gnawing at whatever creature, whether long dead or barely alive, he can get his razor-sharp teeth on. The sunsets aren’t as bright as they used to be, the chemicals and the smoke lingering in the air clouds their light, some plants survive, most don’t. That’s where he meets Yifan. At the end of the world. 

Yifan was born into the apocalyptic world, shortly before it went swiftly downhill. That’s what he tells Junmyeon. He tells him of his short, human life of thirty something years – he'd lost count at some point. He tells him of his robotic pets, altered chemical nutrient bars he ate a lot as a kid, the first time he hunted a pigeon with his slingshot and how his mother cooked it for him, the pollutions and disasters, how his parents died; he tells it all. Junmyeon thinks it’s cute. New, thrilling, intriguing. 

Yifan found Junmyeon when he was taking a midday nap. Sleeping helps. Junmyeon has been seeing a lot of dreams, spending most of his time in dreamland; dreaming of the good times, hundreds of years ago back when the skies were clear and the oceans were full of life, his family and friends, clear sunsets. He naps often. 

When Yifan had found him, he had thought Junmyeon was dead. Half of his body submerged in the murky bog water; the other half gently curled up by the shallow, severe burns and rashes on his skin. In a world where survival requires abandonment of all morals, eating whatever you stumble upon is an everyday occasion. And Yifan, literally speaking, had been starving. One poke of his rusty knife and the man in front of him was wide awake, fish-like eyes open wide, and jaw ajar with razor sharp teeth sticking out, and frilled fins and scales spiked, growling under his breath, looking wicked, rabid. Yifan had never seen anything like it. 

Junmyeon has lost most of his humanity too, and his first, savage instinct is to attack the stranger that dared to disturb his slumber; rip his head right off his neck, shred him into pieces with his mutated, claw-like scaly fingers, have himself a feast. But something snaps him out of it. 

Maybe it’s the small bits of his humanity remained inside him awakened after diving into memories of when being alive wasn’t solely about surviving another day, another hour, another minute; or maybe it’s the loneliness pined inside, Junmyeon didn't even remember the last time he spoke with someone, anyone, or anything, really. 

Something pulled him away, and he didn’t kill Yifan right there when he had the chance. It was eerie and quiet as they stared at each other, tense as Junmyeon’s fins slowly retreated back under his skin and his body got out of defence mode, as Yifan took back his knife and lowered his hand. Yifan hadn’t had many opportunities to mingle either, not since his parents died. In fact, Junmyeon was the only alive and relatively sane person he had encountered ever since everything had went downhill. 

It was Junmyeon who made the first move. Having his dream disrupted so suddenly, he wasn’t able to fully wake up from it, memories of friends and happiness lingered. He realized that it had been so long, _too_ long. So, he took a chance. Turned his body in the water and sat on his tail, extended an arm towards the stranger who initially approached him to hunt him. 

“I’m Junmyeon.” 

He had said. The stranger was appalled to say the least. 

“What the fuck, You’re a fish!” 

Was Yifan’s response upon spotting Junmyeon’s green, scaly tail. It was good to see that there was still some humanity left in the world, the guileless naiveté of Yifan’s response, that his first thought was to be so surprised that Junmyeon was half man and half fish instead of attempting to kill him with fire was what made Junmyeon smile after hundreds and hundreds of years. His face muscles itched, but there it was, a full on, ear-to-ear, razor sharp teeth smile. Blood stains here and there, mutations making him look creepy rather than friendly. But Yifan had seen his good intentions. 

It wasn’t easy to have friendly social interactions again. Nothing to talk about, no common points other than the hell they’re living, no hobbies or future plans. What they had, though, were their pasts. Happy memories, Yifan had a handful, Junmyeon had a lot more. 

Yifan had never seen the ocean, but read about it in old books, saw the ecosystem in digital museums and virtual realities. And Junmyeon had a lot to tell. A lot that amazed Yifan, fed his curious soul, helped him reconnect with his human side. And talking helped Junmyeon too, reliving the memories felt good, felt like he really existed before he turned into whatever he was today. Felt like the ocean and the sea life wasn’t just a fever dream. 

So, they talked, from dusk until dawn, and in the mornings as well. Junmyeon had centuries to tell, Yifan had nothing better to do. 

They hunted together for a while. Food was sparse, at least for Yifan, Junmyeon still had the algae and the marshland plants to rely on. He’d roll around in his pond and attract the attention of nearby wildlife for Yifan to hunt some days, Yifan would offer to share, Junmyeon would kindly refuse. One meal a day is more than enough if they’re lucky, a bit risky to cook since there’s toxic waste everywhere, possibly explosive. Yifan had long stopped caring, though. He ate his meals medium rare. 

One morning they wake to the sounds of a nearby nuclear plant exploding. Yifan tells Junmyeon about fireworks, pretty explosions, colourful, loud, exciting. Junmyeon thinks of them like corals, but loud and exploding. Makes Yifan laugh. He’s pretty, special. Junmyeon was thankful for him. 

Things get worse after the explosion. The radiation levels rise rapidly, Junmyeon knows he can handle it, he’s handled worse. But Yifan visibly grows weaker by day. 

Prey are too infected to eat soon enough, plants are no good, and Yifan most certainly can’t digest algae. Junmyeon tries to find him something to eat, cleaner waters to drink; but it’s no use. Heat levels are rising too, causing Yifan to lose water faster, Junmyeon splashes him with his lukewarm pond water, but it doesn’t do much to help. 

A few days pass, the radiation can be felt through waves of strong vibrations in the air. Junmyeon’s already impaired vision gets a little worse, some of Yifan’s internal organs slowly start to give up on him. They start to accept that there will be no getting out of here, and that this is really the end. Somewhere deep inside, Junmyeon is relieved. 

Sunsets have always amazed Junmyeon, though he’s long stopped raising his head to look, to appreciate their beauty. Yifan is too weak to move, barely breathing, Junmyeon drags his nearly lifeless body into his pond, takes him into his arms. 

It shouldn’t be so comfortable, for Junmyeon’s scales have grown sharper since the apocalypse, shifting towards a branch of his defence mechanism rather than a means of reflecting light. Yifan doesn’t mind. He can feel Junmyeon’s wet, webbed, claw-like fingers finding his own, filling the gaps between them one by one, holding his hand. 

“Look,” 

Junmyeon says, he places Yifan’s head on his shoulder, and makes him face the same direction he’s facing; the sunset. 

“The sunset looks brighter today.” 

He presses Yifan’s back safely to his chest, holds him carefully, brushes his hair strands away from his face. He can hear and feel each breath Yifan is barely taking, his lungs are working with great difficulty, more than ready to give up on him any time. He’s dying, and they’re both aware. Still, Junmyeon holds him close, safe and sound. 

The sky is once again changing towards warmer tones. Despite all the years and the end of the world the sun still sets, tragically beautiful, just like the very first time Junmyeon had encountered it. Junmyeon runs his fingers very carefully through Yifan’s hair. 

“Merpeople funerals are very special, you ever heard of them?” 

Yifan very slightly shakes his head, Junmyeon squeezes his hand reassuringly, telling him to save his energy. 

“You’re the only one I know anything of.” 

He says, Junmyeon shushes him again. 

“I wasn’t always this ugly,” 

Junmyeon tells him. Back in the days, he wasn’t all this sharp scales and prickly fins and claw like hands, he remembers. His tail a very bright green, scales soft as the waves fondle through them, hands small, gentle and pretty; and so was his face. His jaw wasn’t as wide and salient, he most certainly didn’t look like the absolute predator he was today. But then again, so much time has passed since then, since the days of his youth, of beauty and grace, of happiness. He shakes his head, now’s not the time to be lost in thoughts, in memories. 

For the first time in forever, Junmyeon only wishes to stay in the moment, wishing he could stop the time, to have some more time with Yifan. To have some more time, when the world is collapsing. 

“Merpeople sing their dead to the afterlife.” 

He whispers. That’s where the Siren myths derive from, of funerals where merpeople only sing, not any other time. Choruses of beautiful, hypnotising voices harmonizing together, creating hauntingly beautiful songs from scratch to honour the memory of their dead. No preparations or rehearsals, solely inspired by the overwhelming feeling of losing a loved one, singing along as just the right words come, all coming from the heart. 

He can feel his companion slipping away, a sad smile forms on his lips. Yifan is special, that he knows. Out of all the other creatures Junmyeon has encountered throughout his apocalypse journey, including humans, no one has made him feel the sparks from his old life and old self so vividly. After hundreds of years, Junmyeon is once again looking at the sunset, and once again feeling the thrill inside his chest. 

“ _Wasteland, baby_ ,” 

He whispers, 

“ _I’m in love, I’m in love with you_.” 

Yifan uses one of his very final breaths to breathe out a small laugh from his nose, Junmyeon swallows down the lump forming in his throat. Yifan is not of his kind, but his heart feels so heavy, so full of pain to say goodbye to him. He closes his eyes. He has to sing this song; Yifan’s song. 

“ _All the fear and the fire_   
_Of the end of the world_ ,” 

Junmyeon remembers the last time he sang. So many funerals, so many losses, so many heartaches and so many sad songs. It’s been a while, but despite everything he’s been through his voice is as clear and soft as ever, the most solid piece of his old self, filling the eerie bog with its beautiful melody. 

“ _Happily, I'm unfazed here, too_.” 

He tilts Yifan chin up towards the sky, wants to have this moment with him, to share this sunset, the captivating coalescence of the blues and the oranges, reds, yellows. 

“ _All the things yet to come are the things that have passed_.   
_Like the old enough hands, like the breaking of glass_   
_Like the bonfire that burns_.” 

Junmyeon doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be alive, doesn’t know how much longer the planet can stand. But the sun still sets, and he can still feel the warmth of it on his skin. The warmth of all the colours of the skies. 

“ _And the stance of the sea_   
_And the absence of green_   
_Are the death of all things that I've seen and unseen_   
_Are men but the start of all things that are left to do?_ ” 

The sun sets slowly as he sings, honey voice ringing through the water and the sun rays dance to accompany. Yifan gets heavier and heavier in his arms, but Junmyeon is thankful. He’s thankful to have met him, to have taken him into his heart. He smiles, bittersweet. 

“ _And I love too_   
_That love soon might end_   
_And be known in its aching_   
_Shown in the shaking_.” 

He can tell Yifan is trying to hold on. Eyes on the sunset, the radioactive matter in the pool intoxicating him slowly, getting under his skin. Oranges and reds and yellows completely take over their side of the horizon, and from behind them Junmyeon knows the darker blues are approaching, painting the sky to the rich navy of the ocean floor. When Yifan tries to move in his arms, Junmyeon shushes him once again. 

“ _Be still, my indelible friend_ ,” 

He sings, holding onto him, his heart beating wildly in his chest, aching, breaking. 

“ _You are unbreaking_   
_Though quaking_   
_Though crazy..._ ” 

Sun is slowly disappearing, Junmyeon knows they don’t have much time left. Yifan’s breaths have longer pauses between them, and Junmyeon’s sensitive ears can pick up the faint wheezing sounds coming through his lungs, can sense that Yifan’s in pain with each breath he takes. Still, Yifan holds on. To the moment, to the sunset, _to_ _Junmyeon_ and his captivating voice. 

“ _That's just wasteland, baby_.” 

Junmyeon sings. He hums along a mellow mellody, letting Yifan lean onto the vibrations in his chest, it’s their forever. The oranges and reds and yellows are mixing in with the navies now, lighter blues long gone, sunset slowly coming to an end leaving the sky to the night. Junmyeon squeezes Yifan’s hand, neither of them mind his sharp webs and claws sinking into Yifan’s skin. 

“ _Wasteland, baby_ ,” 

Junmyeon starts again, filling Yifan’s ears with the sweet music, he knows Yifan is almost smiling. 

“ _I’m in love, I’m in love with you_.” 

The warm colours are almost gone, lingering by the horizon, like they’re waiting for the song to end. Junmyeon nods towards them, telling them they’ve done well, and that their job here is done. 

“ _That’s it_.” 

He ends his song as the last shade of orange disappears, presses a kiss on the top of Yifan’s head, inside his dirty, greasy hair strands. Yifan’s eyes are closed, the sky is a dark navy. It’s time for him to go, they can feel the grim reaper waiting by their side. Yifan asks for two final breaths, the reaper grants him his final wish. 

“Junmyeon,” 

Yifan whispers, barely audible but the merman’s scaly, finned ears pick it up easily. He’s all ears. 

“You’re beautiful.” 

He tells him on his last breath. Words getting out one by one, slowly, with great difficulty. But Junmyeon has to know. That’s Yifan’s death wish, _Junmyeon_ _has to know_. 

Within seconds Yifan is a lot heavier in his arms, and Junmyeon can no longer feel his lungs moving, or his heartbeat. Time stops. 

“Wasteland, baby,” 

Junmyeon says, suddenly his scales are pricking against his own skin, betraying his body. He can't tell what hurts more. Holds Yifan close.

“ _I’m in love, I’m in love with you_.” 

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/nexomimichan) and/or [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/nekomimichan) if you'd like, thank you for reading^^


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